Yanshan Bandits

Lu Ming was somewhat surprised that the other party had suddenly asked such a question, but aside from the Jade Pendant, he had nothing else to hide.

"Reporting to Elder, first, this disciple is confident that my talent will allow me to quickly learn other martial arts, so I exchanged it. Second, the sect has treated me well, so there is nothing wrong with exchanging it."

"If you had not placed the first point, considering yourself, before the second, then I would find the second point alone rather hard to believe."

After hearing this, Elder Kang smiled, then sighed and continued, "Do not blame me for being suspicious. It is simply that after guarding the Martial Arts Pavilion for so many years, I have seen too many disciples' thoughts and intentions."

Lu Ming could understand. However, his conscience was clear, and everything he had said was true. Time would naturally prove all things.

"Alright, enough of this. For the sake of what you said, I will not deduct contribution points for this [Iron Elephant Art]."

Elder Kang added.

"Thank you, Elder." Lu Ming was delighted.

Afterward, Elder Kang gave him a few more pointers on the precautions for cultivating [Iron Elephant Art], then allowed him to leave.

"Cultivating external arts truly is not easy."

After leaving the Martial Arts Pavilion, Lu Ming sighed inwardly. Elder Kang had just reminded him that cultivating external arts was not only extremely difficult to progress in, but also very likely to damage the body.

Therefore, medicinal ingredients were needed to supplement the cultivation.

And those medicinal ingredients were surely not cheap. Though he had many contribution points that he could use to exchange for them, he wanted to save them for exchanging martial arts.

Thus, he could only buy them with money.

At present, he had more than four thousand taels in gold notes and over sixteen thousand taels in silver notes.

To be honest, that was not much for a Martial Artist. After all, a fine weapon alone cost over ten thousand taels.

As for divine weapons, no matter how much gold or silver one had, they could not be bought. Another type of currency was needed: origin stones.

Once Martial Artists entered the True Qi Realm, relying solely on the essence within their bodies could no longer satisfy their cultivation needs.

They then needed to begin absorbing the energy drifting through the air outside to cultivate. This energy was called World Origin Energy.

Origin stones were crystallized World Origin Energy. Like storage rings and divine weapons, they were divided into four grades: low, middle, high, and supreme.

Lu Ming had heard Chu Yunxiao mention that sect missions gave not only contribution points, but also gold, silver, or origin stones.

Thus, after cultivating the martial arts he had obtained, he planned to take on missions.

"Lu Ming, have you finished choosing your martial arts?"

The moment he stepped out of the Martial Arts Pavilion's grounds, he happened to run into Cui Bai, who had just arrived.

"You really are slow." Seeing that Cui Bai had arrived so late, while he himself had already visited the Weapon Pavilion, Lu Ming was somewhat speechless.

Cui Bai smiled awkwardly. "You do not know this, but after I finished packing up, I changed my mind and went to the Weapon Pavilion first to see whether I could catch up to you. Who would have thought you had already finished choosing?"

Could Lu Ming say that he had not needed to choose at all? He smiled. "Then hurry inside."

Cui Bai nodded and did not delay. After bidding farewell, he headed inside.

Lu Ming, meanwhile, returned directly to his own courtyard and began cultivating martial arts.

Once he began cultivating, more than four months passed in the blink of an eye. Lu Ming had a total of four martial arts to practice.

First were the three moves of the Heavenly Saber Saber Art; second was the movement technique [Hundred Mile Qi Convergence]; third was the Human-grade High Stage claw art [Tiger Fiend Claw]; fourth was the defensive external art [Iron Elephant Art].

After four months of cultivation, there was no need to mention the saber art, movement technique, and claw art. He had already mastered them.

Only [Iron Elephant Art] progressed slowly.

First, after cultivating the other three martial arts, he had not had much time left for this art.

Second, he had run out of money to buy medicinal ingredients.

Only after personally cultivating it did he realize that external arts truly were money-devouring beasts.

[Iron Elephant Art] was divided into three stages. The first stage tempered the tendons, bones, and skin. Once mastered, even blades and swords would struggle to wound the cultivator.

The second stage went from outside to inside, generating protective true qi. It could not only block blades and swords, but also guard against penetrating force such as internal force and vibrations.

The third stage was where dragon and tiger converged, inner and outer becoming one. At that point, it was extremely difficult for anyone below the True Qi Realm to break through one's defenses.

At present, Lu Ming had only mastered the first stage. Even so, it had consumed most of the money on him. What remained was not enough to buy the medicinal ingredients needed to assist the cultivation of the second stage.

Thus, he had already decided to head out and take missions.

"Soul Chasing!"

Inside the enormous training room, Lu Ming suddenly vanished from where he stood, then brushed past a training post like floating light and a fleeting shadow.

Sss! Sss! Sss!

In an instant, several streams of saber qi erupted from within the entire training post, which then exploded into fragments.

It was precisely the fourth move of the Heavenly Saber Saber Art, Soul Chasing Style. It shared the same wondrous essence as the first move, Gale Style: both were thrusts delivered at extreme speed.

The only difference was that while Soul Chasing Style thrust forward, it could also fire several streams of saber qi.

Looking at his handiwork, Lu Ming sheathed his saber with satisfaction. It seemed the saber art's effects were indeed extremely remarkable once mastered.

Next, he took an ordinary long saber worth more than a thousand taels outside from his storage ring.

He held it in his left hand, then infused it with true qi.

With a hum, the saber instantly became incomparably sharp. Lu Ming's expression remained unchanged as his right hand suddenly curled its fingers into a claw and grabbed at the saber.

Crack!

In an instant, the long saber covered in true qi was shattered into pieces by a single claw strike.

"This claw's power truly is not bad either."

After testing [Tiger Fiend Claw], Lu Ming also tested his movement technique. [Hundred Mile Qi Convergence] could leap as far as two hundred meters in a single step at its peak, while he could currently only leap one hundred and seventy meters.

It was not that he could not cultivate it to its peak in one go, but that the true qi within his body was not deep enough.

Although he had not neglected cultivating his internal art every day during this period, his true qi had not increased much. It had only reached roughly the middle stage of the Early True Qi Realm.

He had also asked others about this and learned that cultivation grew slower the further one advanced.

It was entirely normal to go one or two years without a breakthrough.

For example, Cui Bai was still at the initial stage of the Early True Qi Realm.

Lu Ming no longer paid it much mind. He settled down and continued cultivating until today.

Now that he had achieved success in cultivation, it would be difficult to improve much in the short term. Therefore, he planned to end his seclusion and take missions to earn money.

"Lu Ming, are you heading out?"

When he arrived outside the courtyard, Cui Bai happened to be pulling open his door and coming out.

"I plan to take missions."

Lu Ming did not hide it.

"You really are a freak. You finished cultivating the martial arts you obtained in only four months."

During this period, Lu Ming had not been cultivating alone the entire time. Sometimes, he would spar with Cui Bai, practicing against each other and exchanging insights to relax.

Thus, Cui Bai was also basically aware of Lu Ming's cultivation progress.

"Where are you planning to go?" Lu Ming smiled and did not continue dwelling on the subject.

"Where else could I go? The [Hundred Refinements Profound Art] I chose is also a money-devouring beast. Luckily, I spent half a year in the Wuji Mountain Range last time, or I would not be able to hold on either."

Cui Bai said with some distress.

Lu Ming naturally knew Cui Bai's situation as well. Continuing with his previous style, Cui Bai had still chosen a cultivation art that trained both inside and out.

And it was even at the Human-grade Peak Stage.

Originally, he had not planned to choose like this. However, the moment he saw [Hundred Refinements Profound Art], he could not tear his eyes away.

Therefore, he used his entry benefits, along with the two Human-grade High Stage martial skills he had obtained by chance in the Wuji Mountain Range, to exchange for it.

Since cultivating external arts required beating the body, the two of them had done no small amount of beating each other up during this period.

"Then we happen to be going the same way for a while."

The two then traveled together. Only when they reached a crossroads did they part ways. Amid Cui Bai's reminders to be careful, Lu Ming headed toward the Mission Hall.

The Mission Hall was as lively as ever. Some people discussed mission details, some debated mission information, and others recounted amusing incidents they had encountered while carrying out missions.

In short, all kinds of information could be heard there.

"Did you hear? Senior Brother Feng Chao, ranked eleventh, accepted a level-five, two-star mission by himself."

"What? Even those core disciples do not dare casually accept level-five missions alone, much less a level-five, two-star mission."

At this news, discussion instantly broke out around them. Lu Ming could not help but prick up his ears as well.

"What mission is it exactly?" someone asked.

"I know. It is to wipe out the Yanshan Bandits roaming the Iron Horse Plain. I heard that those bandits robbed a Lineage's goods some time ago. It was probably that Lineage which put up the reward."

"The Yanshan Bandits? I heard their leader is at the Late True Qi Realm. Under him are several deputy leaders at the early and middle stages of the True Qi Realm, while there are no fewer than twenty bandits at the Inner Qi Realm. Can Senior Brother Feng Chao handle that alone?"

"Since he accepted it, he must be confident. I heard he mastered an exceptionally formidable leg art."

Everyone spoke at once. Some admired him, some worried for him, and some felt it was unwise.

"Let us go. It seems Feng Chao has started exerting himself. At the next Inner Sect Grand Competition, he will definitely squeeze into the top ten. We cannot fall behind and get pushed out."

At the entrance of the hall stood two distinctive young men, and Lu Ming happened to be standing nearby.

"How is that exerting himself? He is clearly going mad." The other man gave a bitter smile.

The two then left, apparently having been provoked.

"These two should be among the Inner Sect's top ten."

Lu Ming heard their words and sensed their cultivation realms—Late True Qi Realm—so he made this guess inwardly.

He did not think further on it. Having heard so much information, he too had been stirred up, and he walked straight into the hall.